Enthusiasm ‘sky high' as Sonoma-Marin rail service expands northward
It was the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District's latest expansion of a transit route that snakes from Larkspur in Marin County to Healdsburg and Cloverdale in Sonoma County.
The train system sits on refurbished tracks of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, which last carried passengers in 1958. State lawmakers created the SMART district in 2002, but the rail service did not start carrying passengers along a 43-mile section of rail until 2017 — but that didn't include the route's three northernmost stations in Windsor, Healdsburg and Cloverdale.
In the years since, the district has been working to extend service north, SMART spokesperson Julia Gonzalez said.
'It's taken years to secure funding to complete this northern section,' Gonzalez said. 'That's what made today particularly meaningful — the opening of the first stations of the northern extension.'
While many transit systems around the U.S. have struggled to regain ridership that fell off during the COVID pandemic, Gonzalez said SMART rail use has grown significantly — and this month reached more than 1 million rides over the past fiscal year.
The SMART dIstrict's rail service involved refurbishing the old tracks once used by the Northwestern Pacific Railway's freight trains and replacing wood ties with concrete ones, which allowed trains to run up to 80 mph. SMART also had to rebuild and renovate former station buildings in Petaluma, Healdsburg and Windsor, replace a century-old bridge with a newer one, and obtain federal authorization to run trains on the moribund tracks.
Residents voted to fund the railway's construction in 2008. The district completed a 43-mile route between Northern Santa Rosa and downtown San Rafael in mid-2017 and extended service to Larkspur in late 2019.
District officials say they hope to open Healdsburg's station in 2028 and later extend service to Cloverdale, a small town near the Sonoma-Mendocino counties' border. The agency has no estimated timeline for a Cloverdale station to open.
On average, 3,500 to 4,000 riders per day travel SMART, said Gonzalez, adding that Windsor could see as many as 500 passengers a day. The agency has yet to meet its projected ridership of 5,100 daily riders, the Marin Independent Journal reported, with the pandemic setting back early progress.
On Saturday, the first train departed from Windsor at 7:12 a.m., Gonzalez said, with the last arriving at the station at 9:07 p.m.
Saturday's start of service to Windsor corresponded with the SMART district's opening of the multiuse pathway that runs adjacent to the railroad tracks, part of a 307-mile protected path for runners and cyclists that will ultimately connect San Francisco Bay and Humboldt Bay.
Gonzalez and other SMART officials are hoping that ridership will include visitors to Sonoma County's vineyards and wineries, as well as students traveling to school and commuters heading to jobs in Petaluma, Larkspur or as far as San Francisco by way of the rail service's connection to the ferry terminal in Larkspur.
Foot traffic into the Windsor Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center was about three times higher than normal Saturday, said Denyce Carrillo, the center's visitor coordinator.
'Enthusiasm is just sky high,' she said.
Carrillo said she spent much of Saturday morning and early afternoon greeting visitors who'd arrived in town on the train, many asking about tasting rooms and restaurants.
'It's encouraging and delightful to see this much enthusiasm and excitement,' she said. 'Particularly because it's not just from locals but from visitors as far away as Larkspur and Marin.'
SMART plans a grand opening for the station and service extension on June 13.
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